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REVIEWS
...there have been some very complementary remarks
DUO DIGS DEEP INTO JAZZ MAINSTREAM
The Bluenote's Monday series of duos came up with another gem last night, the partnership of saxophonist Mike Hall and keyboards player Robin Joiner, who presented a remarkably wide-ranging evening of music from the jazz mainstream.
Hall, playing tenor and soprano instruments, had a different persona for each.
The soprano found him mostly in a wistful, gentle mood, choosing pretty tunes which he treated with sensitivity, his approach strongly melodic and his tone clear.
But a jazz sensibility was always evident, notably in improvisatory flurries. On tenor, he was more muscular, tonally harking back to the big sounds of players of the '30s and '40s, almost the British equivalent of America's Scott Hamiliton.
Hall's hard-swinging playing also featured the nimble articulation of the boppers, while never losing sight of the importance of rhythmic and emotional tension.
Chris Lee MEN 1999
...and some weird ones
...the band featured a remarkably fine singer called Helen (Watson) and a very normalesque saxman who had obviously spent his youth mastering his horn rather than trying on berets!
City Life 1986
...more recently...
Saxophonist and jazz guru at The Royal Northern College Of Music Mike Hall put together a quintet programmed as From Gordon To Getz for this gig, which exceeded some already high expectations of jazz performance. He brought along fellow tenorist Mike Hope for a programme devoted to the music of Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz. Hope showed a real enthusiasm for the Getz style and the band chose pieces from different points in the great man's career. Hall's more robust tone fitted well into the Gordon arrangements. Both men empathised and scattered and swapped ideas like confetti. Their rhythm section swung like crazy. Bassist Steve Berry, drummer Eryl Roberts and outstanding young pianist Dan Whieldon provided truly magnificent collective support and individual contributions. [The club has asked them back for a gig next year.]
Southport Melodic Jazz Society 2005
RNCM jazz co-ordinator Mike Hall, who also provided an impressive sax solo cameo,
should be congratulated on his work with the band. (RNCM big band)
Manchester Evening News, July 2006
...celebrate the virtuosity, range and energy of one of our finest musicians.
Mike is an expressive player with huge reserves of facility, always used sparingly and sensitively.
manchester jazz festiival, 2007